Sustainable Business Models Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sustainable Business Models

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Energy and resources; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The principal aim of this project has been to develop a broad, cross-institutional and interdisciplinary teaching program on “Sustainable Business Models”. The contents and materials developed through the project are primarily intended to be used as a basis for online courses in Sustainable Business at the partner institutions and in the CEMS network. They can also be used as building blocks for regular courses that may allow for a “flipped classroom” approach that frees up time for more interactive forms of learning in the classroom.

Sustainability is one of the major challenges facing contemporary societies and it has very significant implications for business. Global surveys of CEOs show that sustainability is being placed on the top of the agenda of companies across all industries. In part, this is due to the challenges faced by stronger expectations by customers and other stakeholders, as well as the threat of regulation of social and environmental performance. Increasingly, however, there is an awareness that there are profitable opportunities associated with being more sustainable or by offering products and services that enable others to lead more sustainable lives. In this sense, there is a growing understanding of the possibility that firms can become sustainable while at the same time being responsible. The knowledge of business models that allow for such sustainable functioning are however still scarce in contemporary business education. This project has addressed this shortcoming by developing a comprehensive educational program consisting of video lectures and other teaching material from the frontiers of research on sustainable business.

The project had the following objectives:
1. To develop a course program consisting of six modules on topics related to the design, innovation and implementation of sustainable business models.
2. As a main outcome, the project will deliver 30 teaching videos and additional materials freely accessible online.

Initially, four business schools took part in the consortium. The lead organization was NHH Norwegian School of Economics and the three other participating organizations were ESADE Business School, Copenhagen Business School and Corvinus University Budapest. After an initial round of contract negotiations, however, Corvinus University Budapest chose to withdraw from the project (cf. Amendment to Grant Agreement, Nov. 6th 2017). The remaining organizations agreed that NHH Norwegian School of Economics would take on the workload intended to be conducted by Corvinus University Budapest. As a consequence, researchers from NHH Norwegian School of Economics developed and produced four of the six modules in the program (modules 1-3 and 6), while ESADE Business School (module 4) and Copenhagen Business School (module 5) developed and produced one module each.

The main outcomes of the project, as planned, are the seven intellectual outputs (IO). IO1-6 are the six video modules comprising a total of 32 videos, while IO7 is the online, open access platform at www.SUSTBUS.com, through which all videos can be accessed. The modules are as follows:

– IO1: The problem of sustainability
– IO2: Business Models for Sustainability
– IO3: Circular and Collaborative Business Models
– IO4: Social Innovation
– IO5: Strategizing and Organizing for Sustainability
– IO6: Business in a Sustainable Future
– IO7: Online portal at www.SUSTBUS.com

In addition, there have been several learning and teaching activities, as well as multiplier events, carried out as part of the project. The following learning and teaching activities were carried out in order to test the material throughout the development and production phases:

– “Sustainable Business Models” – Responsible Global Leadership Seminar at NHH, Jan/Feb 2018
– “Sustainable Business Models” – bachelor program seminar at ESADE, Jan 2019
– “Sustainable Business Models” – Responsible Global Leadership Seminar at NHH, Jan/Feb 2019

The following multiplier events have been carried out to disseminate results from the project:

– “Sustainable Business Models” – seminar for NHH Alumni, Oslo, April 2019
– “Sustainable Business Models” – closing seminar at CBS, April 2019
– Sharing of Practices, Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships, NHH, 2019

In addition, a “Sustainable Business Models” seminar was held at Global Responsibility Week 2018 at CBS. Also, a panel debate was hosted during the Global Responsibility Week at NHH in 2018, involving local entrepreneurs heading sustainability iniatives.

In terms of impact, the material has already been used widely in teaching at the three partners schools, both at bachelor and master level. In addition, as shown above, it has been used in the CEMS programs, in which there are students from all partner schools in the CEMS network. This application of the program will continue, thus ensuring long-term impact on the teaching of sustainability in and beyond these curricula.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 176083,25 Eur

Project Coordinator

NORGES HANDELSHOYSKOLE & Country: NO

Project Partners

• FUNDACION ESADE
• COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL